How Website Hosting Works

Step one is getting a domain name. You know, it’s the address for the website, like Everworks.com.

To purchase a domain name we’ll need to use a registrar, such as Everworks IDC Sdn Bhd.

Every computer on the Internet has a unique number. It’s called an IP address. It’s like a phone number for each computer. That’s oversimplified, but it works for our purposes.

A domain name is like an alias for that IP address, a more memorable way of identifying a computer on the Internet.When you type in Everworks.com that’s just an easier way of getting to our company’s website than remembering the IP address (104.28.24.139).

Step 2. NAMESERVERS (OR DNS)

Step two is setting up nameservers or DNS for newly-purchased domain name.

DNS is a commonly used acronym which, depending on context can mean Domain Name System or Domain Name Servers.

Remember how the domain name (everworks.com) is like an alias for the IP address (104.28.24.139) of Out company’s website? Well, someone has to keep track of that information. Someone has to be in charge of saying that objectiveinc.com should “point” to 104.28.24.139. This is where DNS comes in.

Quite often the same company who sells your domain name will also maintain this information but there are also companies who specialize in providing DNS services, such as DNS Made Easy. They have domain name servers, which are computers that keep track of all of this and are in charge of telling everyone that our new domain name goes to the IP address of the computer which has our new website hosted on it.

Step 3. HOSTING

So at this stage we have a domain name and we also have domain name servers making sure that our domain name is properly routing visitors to our website when they type in the domain name.

Our actual website is just a bunch of files. HTML files, CSS files (stylesheets), images and photos, etc. All of these files need to be in a folder on a computer that is connected to the Internet. That computer is usually called a “server” because it serves up our website files when people come to visit. When you pay a company to put your files on their web server, you’re buying hosting. They are hosting your website on their servers.

So now that we have it all setup, here’s what happens when you visit the new website.

You type the domain name into your web browser. The DNS makes sure you get connected to the right computer. And that computer or server has your website files hosted on it. Let’s look at a diagram to make sure this all clicks in your head

CONCLUSION

Hopefully this overview of hosting, domain names, and DNS will at least provide some additional insights into how these important pieces of the Internet work.